Aisha's Hallucination
by Utsubyou
Summary: Aisha is your average sage, a master of the elements, killing the demons that plague Velder. However, the demons that died always reappear the next day, as if the day before never happened. With the survivors of Velder's lives resting on her shoulders, what shall Aisha do?


The corpse of my enemy falls onto the ground, the last of them, the annoying little demon bugger things. They attacked me out of nowhere, well, technically I attacked first, but you get the idea. In any case, all of them jumped me at once, but now none of them are left.

I continue walking down the block, which was slowly burning down to the ground. This once beautiful city, wealthy, thriving, is now infested with demons, who guard the burning houses, shops, apartments, and public works like the dogs they are.

I have to get back before it's too late. I hurry back to camp, before the main fires are put out, and the guards shifts are swapped.

I walk over to the bed, and collapse, exhausted from the events of today.

I do not know when I fell asleep, but when I woke up, I slowly moved towards my desk, opening the diary on it, and writing down the events of yesterday.

The leader, leader of the demons, is unknown. He, or she, was never seen. However, the demons keep coming, day and night, day after day, night after night, each demon replacing the one before it, dying before me, one after one.

I may not know the leader, but I know his subordinates, and I can easily kill them, too, like the rest of the generic demons. Strangely enough, however, is that the demon invasion is like an illusion, even the commanders come back once they are killed. It is battle that cannot be won, no matter how hard one tries. We are doomed, and that won't change.

Thankfully, the demons won't attack us, as long as we stay back. But the temporary "peace" cannot last forever, as tensions grow, and supplies grow low. Every day, we lose a few men, and every day, we lose more of our equipment, food, and morale.

I put my pen away, and close my diary, once the entry is complete. I walk out of my tent, and towards the camps, with a heavy heart, and next to no will to move on.

I stop by the blacksmith, Hannah, and tell her the bad news. "The 3rd squad of Red Knights, from Feita, were overrun yesterday. Not only that, the demons took out our garrison near the entrance to the royal palace. There have been no news from the soldiers stationed there, but I believe that some, if any, of the soldiers should be able to get back. Speaking of which, if you have time, would you make me a back up staff? My current one is starting to deteriorate, and we don't have time to waste standing around waiting to repair a broken weapon."

Hannah sighs, and stares at me. "The fires from the coals are dying. It's no longer just the food or equipment or even men, but even our source of heat is running out. We need to find a way to eliminate the demons. Forget restoring the glory of Velder, that's impossible with us as we are now. Once the demons are gone for good we can work from there, but at the moment that's a pipe dream. I'll work on another staff, but it won't matter if you die or more of our garrisons fall, not to mention any more squads dying. Worst thing is, the Red Knights of Hamel haven't responded to our distress call, and from what I've heard, they too have an infestation of demons. We're on our own."

"Thanks. I'll try to lower the pressure on the garrisons, and make the missions for the squads easier, but now we're almost at the limit. We might as well pull off suicide missions before we're overrun so we can die quick and painless deaths. Of course, we can't let that happen. Ever. I'll talk to you later." After getting some relatively bad news from Hannah, I turn and walk towards the edge of camp. I stare off towards the capital, the heart of the infestation, knowing that today, another garrison will fall, another squad will die, and the demons will come back, again, from the dead.

The Commercial Area, the first of the Commercial Areas, is still as quiet as it was yesterday. I know the same thing would happen today, like yesterday, and the day before. The Commercial Area would be quiet, but then the demons would come, in their hoard, and attack. But, they would come out of nowhere, their area of appearance changing every time.

Not surprisingly, the bodies of the demons from yesterday are gone, without a trace, as if yesterday never happened. I look off towards the entrance of the palace, and think about the garrison that fell. Why did the demons suddenly destroy it? There weren't any demon attacks on it for about one and a half week, but now it's gone. Terminated. Overrun. Empty.

I walk in the direction of the palace, hoping that at the very least, the ruins of the garrison would still be there, and not disappear, like everything else.

As I approach the entrance, with the Hope Bridge in sight, I stop suddenly, half because of the horrendous sight in front of me, half because of the sudden movement behind me. The Hope Bridge has multiple squads of demons stationed on it, like they're waiting for something.

I turn around, and see the squad of demons from yesterday appear again, this time, with reinforcements, which is odd. The strategy of the demons is changing, and its for the worst.

With the demon group is Sullen Joaquin, the demon alchemist, with his biohazard suit and mass array of deadly chemicals that his army is immune to.

My grip on my staff tightens, and I give the demons an evil look, which makes them tense up, and back off a bit. I begin walking towards them, and raise my wand in a threatening manner.

They brace for an attack, and I jump on this golden opportunity, as I turn around and sprint towards the bridge, dodging demons along the way.

My run comes to a halt, as I see Chloe, yet another demon commander, at the end of the bridge, with her battalion of dark elves, waiting for those who wish to pass. I turn around, and I see Joaquin following me, slowly but steadily, bridging the gap between us.

I stare at the enemy in front of me, Chloe, who sneers at me, confident that she has me trapped. I falter, and a dark elf somersaults in front of me, and sends me flying across the bridge, a few feet til the edge.

I pull myself up, wand in hand, waving my arm in front of me for effect, and start shooting off random fireballs at the elves, finishing with a giant fireball, knocking multiple elves in front of me off their feet.

I make a break for the entrance, but all of a sudden I feel a burning sensation in my side. I turn to look, and it's Chloe, again, with a knife in my side. A purplish drop of liquid drips off the blade, and to my horror, I realize it's demonic poison, slowing down my natural recovery process.

My vision begins to blur, and with my remaining strength, I cast a rune with my finger, other hand barely clutching my wand. I teleport back to camp, and all goes black.

"Why, hello there, Aisha. Not doing too good, are you? Demons too strong? Well, I guess both of us know how you feel right now. Oh, you know the camp? I recommend you get back soon. Or something bad may happen. Demons might suddenly become braver, supplies might run out, garrisons may fall, soldiers become corrupt, who knows? Misfortune is roaming, and he's in a playful mood. Enjoy yourself while you still can, Aisha."

The darkness disperses, and I see a dark figure there, mirror image of myself, only darker, and with a demon bat resting on her shoulder. The darkness comes back, and all goes dark.

I wake up with a flash, sitting up, hand over my chest to calm my beating heart. My clothes are drenched in the sweat of my despair, and I quickly scan the room to search for a change of clothes. The room is relatively empty, and rather generic, with white walls, a few dressers, with teddy bears and stuff animals on them. There is also a wardrobe, which seems out of place. I walk over, opening the wardrobe, and stare at the contents.

Inside, there was the gear I was wearing. The armor, covered in blood, in a horrible shape, with multiple gash marks and pieces missing. The staff, snapped in two, with the ends crumbling into dust. A stick, as long as my staff, is lying next to the broken one. It is an unfinished staff, it seems, by the way it looks.

I stare at it, and I hear a voice behind me, laughing an evil laugh. "Hannah never finished that staff. Demons began to invade the camp, and some survivors were driven insane, attacking their own allies. Hannah was one of the first to die, and the fires of the coals died out, along with her. The rest were overrun, and they scattered like leaves in the wind, only to die soon after. The garrisons were swarmed, each one attacked by an elite force of demons, consisting of a commander, and a battalion of high ranking Red Knights, who were corrupted by the demons of their own town, Hamel. The Red Knights of Feita were pushed back, and they dare not venture one step into Velder, lest they lose their lives. The Commercial Area and the Palace, they burned down, unsuprisingly. You died in the forest, where you teleported, and no one saw you." I don't need to turn around to know that the person talking was the person I saw before, my dark mirror image. She doesn't scare me anymore. I'm dead. Nothing could possibly scare me anymore.

Then she said something that made my blood run cold.

"My name is Aisha. I followed the demons, unlike you. Now you are dead, and there is no way, you'll ever, ever come back to life."

She disappears in a wave of darkness.

Then, the room began to collapse in on itself, pieces of the ceiling falling, and the ground shaking. Dressers shaking, stuffed animals falling, and furniture falling apart.

I see a desk, with a small diary on it.

I run over, open it, and see the previous entry. The last entry was the entry I wrote the day I died. I turn to the next blank page and begin writing the final entry. I close the diary, and the room caves in, turning the world dark.

My eyes open. Who am I?

I get up, brush the dust off my clothes, and walk towards some ruins that I was lying next to. There is just a pile of rubble, but when I look closer, I can see a hand, covered in blood, sticking out. It is clutching what appears to be a diary, so I slowly take it out of the dead fingers.

There are many stains on the cover of the diary and first few pages, but other than that, there seems to be no damage. I look at the last entry, and read something extremely puzzling.

She is my other self, the persona of darkness. The world is collapsing around me, and I, too, will perish not before long. It is risky, but I will become her, the princess of the void. I fear nothing, as there is nothing I can lose. I lost everything, but if I can ressurect myself with this, I will gladly become a servant of darkness.

The entry ends there, but I feel a pull at the back of my mind. It starts throbbing, and I drop to the ground, grabbing my head in pain.

Slowly, the pain intensifies, but I feel myself stand and start laughing maniacly against my will. And in my horror, I say "I am Aisha, the void princess. Lord of the demons, I have some survivors in Velder to kill."

I open a portal with dark magic, and out come five figures, my demonic servants.

They say they names slowly, one after another. "McGard." "Vardon." "Joaquin." "Chloe." "Spriggan."


End file.
